1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an input tray media de-slouch apparatus, comprising; an input media tray, at least one pivotable media de-slouch arm operatively connected to the tray, and a releasable locking means operatively connected to the arm and the tray to lock the arm prior to media being placed against the arm to substantially keep the media from slouching and to release the arm prior to the media being fed from the input tray.
2. Description of the Related Art
Prior to the present invention, as set forth in general terms above and more specifically below, it is known in rear and vertically loaded printer media trays that slouching of stiff media is to be avoided. Slouching is defined as having the media fan out, slip down the tray floor, or worse, sliding into the printer media feed system, thereby causing jams. In prior rear and vertically loaded printer media trays, a stationary friction pad was mounted on the tray floor. The pad was used to achieve the dual purposes of preventing media movement during loading and also providing separation forces for preventing multi-picking of the media during the pick cycle. Multi-picking results when the top sheet the media tends to drag the sheet of media below it into the media handling feed mechanism, due to friction.
One major drawback of this design is the limited effectiveness of the friction pad in preventing media movement during the loading process. This is because increasing the frictional forces while achieving limited media movement during the loading process would result in no pick of media and a subsequent increase in system torque requirements. Consequently, a more advantageous system, then, would be provided if media slouching could be eliminated while reducing multi-picking of the media.
It is apparent from the above that there exists a need in the art for an input tray media system that is capable of eliminating media slouching while reducing multi-picking of the media. It is a purpose of this invention to fulfill this and other needs in the art in a manner more apparent to the skilled artisan once given the following disclosure.